Test-retest reliability of the default mode network in a multi-centric fMRI study of healthy elderly: Effects of data-driven physiological noise correction techniques

Abstract

Understanding how to reduce the influence of physiological noise in resting state fMRI data is important for the interpretation of functional brain connectivity. Limited data is currently available to assess the performance of physiological noise correction techniques, in particular when evaluating longitudinal changes in the default mode network (DMN) of healthy elderly participants. In this 3T harmonized multisite fMRI study, we investigated how different retrospective physiological noise correction (rPNC) methods influence the within-site test-retest reliability and the across-site reproducibility consistency of DMN-derived measurements across 13 MRI sites. Elderly participants were scanned twice at least a week apart (five participants per site). The rPNC methods were: none (NPC), Tissue-based regression, PESTICA and FSL-FIX. The DMN at the single subject level was robustly identified using ICA methods in all rPNC conditions. The methods significantly affected the mean z-scores and, albeit less markedly, the cluster-size in the DMN; in particular, FSL-FIX tended to increase the DMN z-scores compared to others. Within-site test-retest reliability was consistent across sites, with no differences across rPNC methods. The absolute percent errors were in the range of 5-11% for DMN z-scores and cluster-size reliability. DMN pattern overlap was in the range 60-65%. In particular, no rPNC method showed a significant reliability improvement relative to NPC. However, FSL-FIX and Tissue-based physiological correction methods showed both similar and significant improvements of reproducibility consistency across the consortium (ICC = 0.67) for the DMN z-scores relative to NPC. Overall these findings support the use of rPNC methods like tissue-based or FSL-FIX to characterize multisite longitudinal changes of intrinsic functional connectivity. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2114-2132, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Progress toward openness, transparency, and reproducibility in cognitive neuroscience

“…Researchers continue to take seriously the effort to systematically measure the factors that influence test/retest reliability of responses across time and tasks, and these sorts of studies are increasingly common. [83][84][85][86][87][88] Other research programs focus on addressing questions about the long-term within-subject stability of responses 89,90 and how the accurate assessment of within-participant differences might address questions about individual differences. [91][92][93] There is increasing support for conducting and publishing the results of confirmatory studies, 94,95 thereby rectifying some existing biases that often favor the publication of new, novel results over confirmatory ones.…”

“…Despite the acknowledged lack of consensus about how to measure and thereby evaluate results reproducibility and the noted significant problems with statistical power, we find a number of encouraging developments concerning the reproducibility of results. Researchers continue to take seriously the effort to systematically measure the factors that influence test/retest reliability of responses across time and tasks, and these sorts of studies are increasingly common . Other research programs focus on addressing questions about the long‐term within‐subject stability of responses and how the accurate assessment of within‐participant differences might address questions about individual differences .…”

Progress toward openness, transparency, and reproducibility in cognitive neuroscience

“…Researchers continue to take seriously the effort to systematically measure the factors that influence test/ retest reliability of responses across time and tasks, and these sorts of studies are increasingly common [83][84][85][86][87][88] . Other research programs focus on addressing questions about the long-term within-subject stability of responses [89][90] , and how the accurate assessment of within-participant differences might address questions about individual differences 93 .…”

Biomarkers, designs, and interpretations of resting‐state fMRI in translational pharmacological research: A review of state‐of‐the‐Art, challenges, and opportunities for studying brain chemistry

“…These artifacts are often dealt with in addition to motion, either by modeling a movement‐related phase‐shift in each EPI acquisition, combined with a canonical hemodynamic response function to respiration and heart rate [Birn et al, ; Chang et al, ]; by using a proxy correction by assuming that the BOLD signal fluctuations in the deep WM and CSF encode non‐neuronal variations in respiration and heart rate signals [Birn, ]; or by using dual‐echo acquisition methods that can help separate true noise from biologically relevant signals [Bright and Murphy, ]. To date, the majority of work examining the impact of physiological correction on resting‐state fMRI has focused on improved consistency of the DMN [Marchitelli et al, ], although in some cases, the DMN and the respiration component identified from ICA may be overlapping [Birn et al, ]. In fact, it has been shown that respiration‐related changes in end‐tidal CO 2 create anatomically specific patterns in many temporal (e.g., Insula) and medial brain areas (e.g., cingulate cortex) that are commonly studied in pharmacological studies [Peng et al, ; Wise et al, ].…”